


Heroes Die Young

by slivered



Series: Heroes Die Young [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU - Space, AU - superhumans, AU - villians, Galra Keith, Gen, Gen Fic, gender neutral pronous for Katie Holt | Pidge, idk why this happened, implied past Shiro/Allura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 09:37:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8839585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slivered/pseuds/slivered
Summary: "He's feral," the older man reminded her warily. Allura took another breath, exhaled slowly. Of all her selections, Kogane was one of the two that Coran and the Council had taken the most issue with. Between his high kill count, his time in the pits, and his recklessness, he was unpredictable. Uncontrollable, she had been warned.But like the former three, he had a weakness that she could exploit. Something that he wanted, that she was willing to offer him in exchange for his cooperation. Ironically, they all wanted the same basic thing. Just for different reasons.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have not written fanfic in a very, very, very long time. So this? This wasn't supposed to happen. Least of all in less than twenty-four hours.
> 
> And yet it did. I have regrets. So many regrets.
> 
> This is loosely based on the concept of Suicide Squad, aka: To defeat the bad guys, find better bad guys. Only set in space and without any real Suicide Squad elements to it. Which means, sadly, no Lance in Harley's booty shorts doing awesome aerial dance moves.
> 
> Unbeta'ed. Characterization may be off (see: "have not written...in a very, very, very long time"). Implied Shiro/Allura is very minor at best. One shot. World-establishing exercise. Con/crit okay. If you see typos and want to point them out, thank you. And I've never posted on AO3 before, so hopefully I've done this right.

The click of her heels echoed off the metal walls as she followed her advisor down the corridor. They'd already crossed three security checks, two additional full body scanners, and an interior ion-barrier to get this deep into the Cerian-9 High Security Facility, an artifical moon located in orbit around an uninhabitable planet in a remote solar system. Now, save for guards stationed at regular intervals inside heavily secured control rooms and the occasional staff moving between the hallways, they had free reign to inspect their prospective team. Ahead of her, Coran was muttering to himself. And even though Allura couldn't quite make out the words, she suspected 'head-strong' and 'coverting with dangerous criminals' were among his top complaints.

Her father's former advisor, now her own, had made his misgivings about her current excursion quite clear. As had the Intergalactic Council.

But, well. Desperate times required even more desperate measures.

Allura had assured them that, if nothing else, this was the height of pragmatism. The Council would get a team capable of handling Zarkon's underground empire, the team would get leniency in regards to their past actions and if something unfortunate happened to any of the team members? They were expendable. Everybody won something. Even Allura herself, though she preferred not to dwell on that.

She was doing this for the Greater Good, after all.

"Well," Coran finally spoke up, glancing from his holo-pad to the rows of empty cells on either side of them. "This is corridor 2-A, so she-- They," he corrected absently, "should be... Ah yes. Here." The red-haired man paused and motioned to the cell.

Inside, a teenaged human sat on the bunk. They were thin, reddish-brown hair cut short, and a pair of large, round glasses perched on their nose. "Kathleen Holt," Coran introduced with a flourish of his hand. "Also knows as Matthew Holt and Pidge Gunderson. Human. Earth-born. Nineteen years old. Meta-being with enhanced level intelligence, though as far as the staff can tell, they've not been QE'ed."

Allura hummed her response. Coran wasn't telling her information that she didn't already know; she'd memorized the files she'd been given during the selection process. Though, she would admit, it was difficult to believe that such a tiny person was capable of the damage that "Pidge" had done three years ago.

It was also impressive, Allura thought, turning the weapon systems of a Galra-controlled shipping vessel on its own escorts before crashing it into a nearby port. Hundreds had died as a result. It was a pity that the teenager had a trail of other incidents following them, most notably several multi-system viruses that had had their origins traced to the hacker and the few million in stolen currency that had shifted through several of their accounts. Pidge might have remained a ghost, to the embarrassment of the Council and its enforcers.

Except they'd gotten lazy. They'd gotten cocky. And they'd gotten caught.

Pidge, unaware of their observers, simply flopped down onto the bunk and stared up at the ceiling.

"They're certainly... Lively," Coran huffed, fiddling with the curled tips of his mustache.

Allura laughed.

"Right, well. Moving on." Coran motioned for her to follow and she did.

The next cell was two corridors over, the metal of the walls thicker and more suitable for handling repeated heavy impact. The glass-barrier was thicker here too, though staring inside the cell at the large young man seated cross-legged on the floor, Allura wasn't certain the extra precautions were necessary.

Again, Coran rattled off a basic list of information about the man known most commonly as "Hunk." Human. Age, twenty-two. Mechanical engineer. Genius level intelligence -- nothing like Pidge, Allura knew, but far above that of the human average. Meta-being, with known enhanced strength and durability. To what extent hadn't been tested, unfortunately, though Allura was also aware that, unlike Pidge, Hunk had been exposed to quintessence-enhancement at some point during his time as a Galra captive. That would have altered his abilities considerably.

He and his partner had escaped from the Galra's slave trade at least four years ago, only to become outlaws themselves.

"Is he...meditating?" Allura finally asked after several long moments of silence between her and her advisor.

"It would seem so." Coran glanced at his holo-pad with a frown. "Apparently it's a common occurrence. The psych eval indicates that he's the most stable being among your top five. Should be the least trouble, then, if he agrees."

"He'll agree." Once he heard the deal Allura was offering, she had no doubts. "Who's next?"

*

"And here we are... Number three!"

Allura did not appreciate her advisor's faux-enthusiam, a fact that she relayed though a simple raised eyebrow. Coran had the grace, at least, to look abashed.

Then she turned her attention back to the cell. Lance McClain, aka Dead Eye and Hunk's partner in both literal and figurative crime, was a blur of movement. He paced back and forth, arms waving in the air and lips moving as he chattered to himself. Or, Allura supposed, to the poor guard that was responsible for monitoring his behavior. He was another human, the same age as Hunk, though in a cell more similar to Pidge's. According to the data, he'd met Hunk during their shared Galra-enslavement, had orchestrated the escape, and had been the primary motivator for his and Hunk's short-lived 'space pirate' career. If only they'd stuck to stealing from the Galra underground, then neither of the two men would be in the high-security facility.

"Another meta-being, QE'ed just like the last," Coran mumbled. "Enhanced speed, well above-human accuracy. Good strategist, overall. And deadly with a blaster, this one."

Thus why he was up three security levels from his former ally and the younger hacker.

"We'll need a sniper," was all Allura answered.

Inside his cell, McClain paused and turned to stare at the glass wall. Allura and Coran exchanged a look as the young man quirked a smile and cocked the forefingers of both hands as if they were guns, aiming and shooting in their directions. Allura was, admittedly, not skilled at lip-reading, but even she could tell the man was firing at them with a mocking 'pew-pew-pew.'

Coran frowned. "He shouldn't know we're here, not with the--"

"Have his sensory perceptions re-checked," Allura said. "He may have additional enhancements." Coran tapped the order onto his holo-pad and sent it along to the facility's central command. Then, he turned around, motioning her to the cell directly across from McClain's.

"This would be Keith Kogane. Though I suppose he's better known as Wildfire..."

Allura thinned her lips. It wasn't as if she hadn't been expecting this. Expecting him. She'd read his file, if not the most then a very close second. She'd seen photos and the security feed of him in his cell. She'd _known_.

Surprisingly, it didn't help.

Unlike the previous three prisoners, Kogane had foregone the shirt of his standard-issue prison uniform and stood in the center of his dimmer cell in only a pair of loose black sweats. Barefoot, he moved through a series of combat maneuvers - punch, dodge, thrust, kick, block - with clean, graceful precision. Black, hooked claws on both his fingers and toes cut through the air as he struck his invisible opponent and the purple fur on his torso was matted with sweat and old scars. His large, purple ears twitched in the direction of the glass wall.

He knew that they were there. Allura inhaled deeply and straightened her spine. She also expected that. Galra, even half-bloods, had senses far beyond those of the humans she'd inspected thus far. The glass barriers kept the cell occupants from hearing or seeing too much from the outside corridors, but no system was absolutely perfect.

Beside her, Coran was still talking. "... Exact age, unknown. It's assumed to be in the late teens to mid-twenties, given his human heritage and dental records. No birth records, though the system can trace him to Earth's foster care system for part of his early childhood, before he was... acquired by the Galra. Former gladiatorial pit fighter. Not a meta-being, exactly, but QE'ed enough that he might as well be, half-Galra or not. Increased strength, stamina, agility, senses, minor shape shifting abilities. He passed as human until he was QE'ed, not sure if there's a relationship between that and his current appeareance. Sensitive to bright light and extremely loud sounds. Excels in hand-to-hand combat and close range weapons..."

"Coran. You're rambling," Allura cut in.

"He's _feral_ ," the older man reminded her warily. Allura took another breath, exhaled slowly. Of all her selections, Kogane was one of the two that Coran and the Council had taken the most issue with. Between his high kill count, his time in the pits, and his recklessness, he was unpredictable. Uncontrollable, she had been warned.

But like the former three, he had a weakness that she could exploit. Something that he wanted, that she was willing to offer him in exchange for his cooperation.

Ironically, they all wanted the same basic thing. Just for different reasons.

"If necessary, we can keep him sedated or in a cryo-pod until he's needed," Allura reminded her advisor, stepping closer to the translucent barrier.

Inside the cell, Kogane came to an abrupt halt and turned, sniffing the air. Gold, pupil-less eyes fixed on her and Coran, just beyond the enclosure, narrowed and the half-Galra roared at them before throwing himself at the glass. His claws left deep impressions, but the self-healing material was already sealing the damage. Still he slashed again. And again.

Coran squealed like a kalip and jumped back.

Allura didn't flinch.

*

"Lastly, Takashi Shirogane," Coran began hesitantly, coming to a halt in front of the final cell in the most secure sector of the prison facility. They'd crossed two more security check points, another ion-barrier, and several fullly-armored guards wandering the corridors.

Shirogane was the only one kept in this sector.

Allura stopped as well. The wall before her was translucent, like the other four cells they'd visited, but considerably thicker; beyond it were two more just like it and a fourth wall of plasma energy bars. The three remaining metal walls were ten times thicker than those that had surrounded Hunk. The cell itself even had an enclosed air circulation system and enough of a specialized knock out gas stored in a backup emergency system to render a herd of butroxiun unconscious for eight to ten kilo-ticks.

According to his file, the last time the security personal had had to use it on Shirogane, it had worn off in under two.

"Also known as Shiro," the red-haired man continued, reading off his holo-pad numbly, "also known as Kuro, also known as 'Champion'. Age is twenty-five, place of birth. Earth. Like the others. Meta-being. Enhanced healing abilities, reflexes, and strength. QE'ed. High marks in strategy and leadership skills. Former military, flight commander. And of course, the arm..." Coran trailed off and Allura nodded. Right now, the man sitting on the floor across from her, staring at nothing, had only a stump cut off just above the elbow for a right arm. She couldn't see the data connections for the piece of Galra tech, not with the stump covered by the loose, long sleeve of his uniform shirt, but she'd studied the schematics.

"Yes, well." Cora sniffed at her side, frowning at the man seated in the cell. No matter that the translucent barriers between them were one way and Shirogane couldn't see his expression. "According to his psych evaluations he has--"

"Dissociative identity disorder, two confirmed personalities," Allura stated blandly, "along with post-tramatic stress disorder. I know, Coran. I've read his file." She paused, considered, and nodded to the cell. "Let me in."

Coran's eyebrows rose. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Even without the cybernetic prosthetic, he's still a dangerous killer," Coran reminded her softly. "Thirty three confirmed kills, and that's not counting--"

"Again, I know." Allura's small smirk was bitter. "Time in Zarkon's gladiatorial pits does that to a person. But there's nothing to worry about. I just want to...talk to him."

Coran didn't argue further, just sighed again and shook his head as he worked the bioscanner on a nearby panel. The first panel slid open, and Allura stepped in, waited until it slid closed behind her and the second opened. The same process for the third, and then only the plasma bars stood between her and Shirogane.

The man sitting on the floor grinned, raising his eyes to look at her. "Hey, Ali."

"I don't believe you have the right to call me that anymore, Shirogane," Allura corrected, her tone clipped and professional, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.

"Heh, probably not." Shirogane shrugged his left shoulder, eyes flicking back to some point behind her. "So, if this isn't a personal visit, then what are you doing here, _Commander_?"

"I have a mission for you." Shirogane glanced back up, tilted his head to one side.

"Do you?" he chuckled. "What's in it for me?"

Allura smiled geniune this time. "Revenge."


End file.
